Laureen Fagan

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

Laureen is a freelance journalist creating high-quality, informed content on international affairs, politics and technology. She has worked both in and out of newsrooms since 2000.
She is a former paramedic with significant experience in community resilience and nonprofit community development initiatives, and maintains "a passion for action" on sustainability and climate change. She also is trained in conflict resolution and diversity, and has special interests in science and medical reporting, and culture and religion issues.
Laureen received her MSJ from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in the United States, and completed additional graduate study in theology at University of Notre Dame.

The rising tide of tension in Uganda over presidential eligibility age limits spilled into and shut down the country’s parliament building on Thursday, as the discourse among ministers inside the chambers became as contentious as the heavily-guarded streets outside in Kampala. Opposition political leaders demanded to know why there was…

Ethiopia lifted a 10-month state of emergency in August, but it hasn’t taken long for its government to move from one crisis to the next. Dozens of people are reported dead as the Oromo community and the ethnic Somali of Ogaden blame each other for last week’s escalation of violence…

The financial services firm KPMG South Africa announced a major shakeup in leadership following an internal investigation of its practices while doing work for the wealthy Gupta family at the center of the country’s corruption inquiries. It’s the latest move amid allegations of financial scandal that have swept the country….

The stunning announcement Friday that Kenya’s Supreme Court ruled to annul the results of the August 8 elections has riveted the attention of the nation and the world. There’s cautious praise for a constitutionally-based decision unprecedented in Africa, but also questions about the role of international observers and real fear of…

In early August, Prime Minister Tom Thabane of Lesotho promised that the small southern African kingdom would stop being the “bad boys” of the region and its 16-nation Southern African Development Community. “Enough is enough,” Thabane said, as he vowed to move forward with a framework for comprehensive reforms that…

The images from Sierra Leone following Monday’s flooding and landslide are heartbreaking, leading some to wonder how much more trauma the small West African nation can absorb. It’s still rebuilding communities after an Ebola outbreak that claimed more than 3,500 lives before the World Health Organization declared its end little…

The story of summer in the World’s northern hemisphere is that it’s hot. Too hot. The current weather warnings continue for southeastern Europe, where temperatures reached 42.3 degrees Celsius in Croatia, and 42 degrees in Spain and Italy. For many Europeans, the heat wave hearkens memories of Europe’s 2003 heat…

He’s been in London since May, and now amid much anticipation and even more speculation, President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to return to Nigeria – perhaps as early as Wednesday, many local media outlets are saying. Yet whenever he returns, what happens after that is likely to be more of…

A report last week on President Joseph Kabila and his family’s holdings in the Democratic Republic of Congo – copper, cobalt and tin mining among them – offered a comprehensive look at what the Congo Research Group calls “a conservative reading” of assets worth tens of millions of dollars. The…

Amid threats over new sanctions and the strife over stalled presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo – elections that President Joseph Kabila’s regime says the country can’t afford – comes a curious report on two close Kabila associates and their yacht. Leading French outlet Le Monde published on Tuesday…

In Rwanda, three candidates seeking to stand for the presidential election on August 4 have been disqualified, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) said, as it announced the final list on Friday. That list of candidates includes incumbent President Paul Kagame, who is expected to win a third seven-year term after…

There is no escape, really, from the realization that the incremental encroachments on Zambia’s democratic freedoms have now moved the country into a frightening moment. Word that President Edgar Lungu is to declare a national state of emergency appears to mark a new phase of political power for a president…

The future of Africa’s youth seems to be on everyone’s mind. Chad is playing host to the Pan African Youth Forum through Saturday, where 300 young people from 54 countries are engaged in a core discussion of how to take full advantage of the continent’s “demographic dividend.” Heads of state…

The G5 Sahel summit next Sunday in Bamako is likely to serve as a turning point in the years-long struggle for security, in a region where the threat of terrorism has only appeared to deepen and armed ethnic and jihadist groups remain firmly entrenched. The G5 nations – Burkina Faso,…

Eugene Linden, a prominent American author typically future-focused on science and climate trends, recently raised a few eyebrows with a take on global overpopulation that held the small African nation of Lesotho up as case study – or harbinger of doom, depending on perspective. Linden, in a June 15 opinion…

Launched in July 2015, Africa Times is an independent participative online news site for Sub-Saharan Africa. We aim to empower all African voices through publishing content by a range of people, from academics to bloggers. We are dedicated to bringing the world an African view on life, up-to-date African news and analysis.